Top ten rock band symbols. Top 10 rock band symbols Like this post? More in mail

Any work, regardless of its original meaning - be it a commercial project, or just a spiritual need, sooner or later faces the issue of promotion - as one of my acquaintances sang, “The thing is that we are not looking for fame, but if we find it, then we won't give it to anyone!"

If we talk about music, then of all its directions, rock has, perhaps, the most optimal ratio of the width of the audience to the level of its involvement. And, therefore, the richest treasury of promotion methods.

So, you set out to become famous. The team was found, the style was more or less chosen, the name was invented. It's time to think about the logo. What should he be? To begin with, I propose to familiarize yourself with the results.

Firstly, the color and shape of the logo should reflect the components of your creativity - text, sound, show. In this regard, the first rule:

1. Expression of music in the logo. Take a look at the pictures. On the first of them - the contrast of the brutally bloody "Cannibal Corpse" and "Scorpions", the hallmark of which has always been a clear sound. And in the second picture, the Aria logo repeats the style of the Iron Maiden logo, just like the band itself copies the sound and even fragments of the musical compositions of the kings of heavy metal.

Now, men, remember your childhood! Probably only the laziest of us has never drawn the outlines of the Metallica and AC / DC logos on the wall / desk / notebook cover? This was done even by those who had never heard them. I suspect that you also drew the names of the groups - the leaders of the above-mentioned my survey. Pay attention: the logos of "Alisa" and "DDT" seem to be telling us "Draw me!". I present to you the second rule of the logo for a rock band. Let's call it like this:

2. Ease of reproduction on surrounding objects. This property of the logo is very important, since one of the channels for promoting a rock band is a viral advertisement on architecture, interior, etc., distributed by young fans. And this is no coincidence: rock music carries a doubt in social foundations and a protest against their inviolability, just like the inscription, as it were, points out to the wall its imperfection.

We go further. The logo of a rock band should be easy to apply and look bright on the elements of paraphernalia: T-shirts, hats, bags, pendants, etc. And the more the logo allows to “roam around”, the more people will “dress” it and see it. So the third rule is:

3. Adaptation to the manufacture of paraphernalia. For this, a bright color is preferred, letters of medium thickness, preferably without contours. As for the background, the most convenient color was discovered a long time ago - black. However, he is also the most "beaten". You can, of course, experiment with a different color, but no one dares. Because the more rocker differs in color, the less it is associated with rock.

What else will help give your logo a sustainable characteristic? Of course, the signs that will be the first to tell about the content of your work. Rule four:

4. Additional semiotic elements. They will help identify the philosophy of the group, and therefore contribute to remembering the name. However, they also have a minus - a cliché that will be very difficult to “wash away” in the event of a change in rock direction. Therefore, proceed at your own discretion. So, if you preach the idea of ​​​​universal love, you can add “pacific” to the logo. If you do not recognize the authority, you can say this with the help of the sign of anarchy. Is your lyrical hero experiencing strong mental anguish? The cross will signify this. Add a pentagram to the logo if your songs are permeated with something terrible and sinister. You can put something mysterious. For example, runes (as it is done on the logo of the Picnic group). The only question is whether everyone will notice and understand them.

And now I ask you to pay attention again to the results of my survey. As you can see, all voting leaders have brief logos. Conciseness! Here's something else to help you remember. Fifth rule:

5. Easy to read and short logo. And even if you are already too excited to come up with a long name, you can always turn it into an abbreviation or abbreviation. Remember such second group names as “NAU” (“Nautilus Pompilius”), “AU” (“Automatic Satisfiers”), “GO” (Civil Defense), and even Boris Grebenshchikov is better known as “BG” than as a leader "Aquarium".

There is such a feature of most of our compatriots - a craving for foreign things. And many musicians write the name of their bands in Latin, which “blowns fog” into perception, forgetting about the sixth rule:

6. Authentic language."Write" in the language you sing. And you will be one with your logo.

And the last basic rule. Do not forget about the correct matrix of emotions, which is typical for all logos (direction of the main part of the logo from the lower left corner to the upper right). And also remember about the alternative to the matrix of emotions in the logos of rock bands - symmetry.

7. The correct matrix of emotions and symmetry. The first gives the logo dynamism and focus on development, and the second - perfection, to which any music lover subconsciously gravitates.

Let's analyze the logo of one of the leaders of the survey - the Alisa group. First of all, the logo tells about the history of the group. A group born in the USSR with a great future. The combination of the correct matrix of emotions with symmetry "prophesies" the perspective of the group. Pay attention to the time period of the Alice logo: it is written as if on the topic of the day. But the bottom line is that such topical issues are always in demand by our society. In addition, the logo has a "fast handwriting", which conveys the revolutionary mood of the group's work. Cool? And all this fit into a laconic inscription.

As an alternative example, I present to you the logo with the coat of arms of the Queen group. Created by a professional designer, leader of the group Freddie Mercury, it tells not only about the philosophy of the group, but also about its members. And, although due to the complexity of this work of art, only collectors of the group's work are familiar with it, the existence of the coat of arms of the musical group is historical in itself. And the group compensated for the little-known logo by outrageousness in other directions.

Today we offer to recall the most famous logos of bands from all over the world that have long lived outside of music and, it seems, are no longer associated with specific musicians.

1. "Snaggletooth" (War-Pig) - Motorhead

The legendary "Snaggletooth", aka "War-Pig", appeared on Motorhead's first studio album in 1975. The main author of the drawing was the artist Joe Petagno, who combined the skulls of a gorilla, a dog and a wild boar to create a “fighting pig”. Lemmy later stylized the character, adding to his brutality through chains and spikes. "War-Pig" appeared in various variations on 20 of the band's 22 studio album covers. Motorhead branded merchandise has been around for decades.

2.Misfits


The ghost of the Misfits first appeared on the cover of the third single "Horror Business". The musicians, inspired by the series "The Crimson Ghost", filmed in the mid-40s, took the appearance of the main character - the Crimson Ghost as a basis. The image is used everywhere, anywhere, and seems to exist already separately from its cinematic and musical progenitors.

3. Slayer


Thrash metallers Slayer, as well as musicians from Motorhead, have been repeatedly accused of sympathizing with Nazism. The main reason for this was the logo, supposedly similar to the coat of arms of the Third Reich. For the first time, crossed swords with the name of the group in the center appeared on the first album "Show No Mercy" in 1984. The author of the drawing was the father of one of the members of the "road team". At the beginning of their journey, the guys from Slayer used a satanic image, so three sixes, various variations of crosses and images of demons were regularly added to the allegory of the pentagram. Today, the legendary print appears on all kinds of clothing for people far from not only heavy music, but also from understanding the meaning of this image.

4.AC/DC


It's hard not to notice that the name of the group was not difficult to depict in a graphic style. Sharp and angular letters, which in the original version were more rounded, came out from under the hand of American designer Gerard Hurt in 1977, becoming one of the components of hard rock. The lightning symbol located in the middle gave the logo a special recognizability. One of those logos that will be understandable even to those who have never heard their music.

5. "Dead Smile" - Nirvana

For his main project - Nirvana, Kurt Cobain drew the logo himself. Despite the obvious simplicity, the image quite clearly conveys the nature of the music and the style of the grunge band. Known to millions of music lovers, the dead-eyed emoticon did not appear on any of the band's studio or live albums. Reflecting ambiguous emotions, the drawing became popular in itself and is associated with the prototype of Kurt Cobain himself with all his internal struggles and contradictions.

6. Ramones


The Ramones logo is the full seal of the fathers of punk rock, similar in style to the official seal of the President of the United States. The author of the logo was a longtime friend of the musicians Arturo Vega, according to whom the band was the best in America and had every right to borrow the president's seal. As planned, the eagle holds a baseball bat for the opponents of the group and an apple tree branch for the followers. Biographers noted that the musicians earned a tidy sum selling T-shirts with this image, and some punk bands still invent their own variations of the logo.

7. "Hot Lips" - Rolling Stones

Surely everyone knows these "lips" from the cradle - and it doesn't matter if you heard about rock and roll at that moment. The author of the work, John Pace, was 24 years old when Mick Jagger offered him to develop a logo design for the Rolling Stones. Using the prototype of the Hindu goddess Kali, as well as the wishes of Jagger himself, the designer prepared an ambiguous image of lips with a tongue, which looked somewhat provocative and vulgar, especially for the early 70s. However - doesn't all this best describe rock and roll? Almost 50 years after its appearance, the logo does not lose popularity and according to many music magazines is the most successful and recognizable in the world.

Band Logos - Top 25 Logos

25. Ramones

Arturo Vega took the coat of arms of the President of the United States as a basis.

24. Nine Inch Nails

The logo was created by Trent Reznor, who was inspired by the 'Remain in Light' album cover of Talking Heads.

23. Public Enemy

22. Korn

The logo was penciled by Jonathan Davis himself, the godfather of nu metal.

21. Aerosmith

The logo - the letter A with wings - was invented by the band's guitarist Ray Tabano.

20. Black Flag

The group leader's brother, artist Raymond Pettibon, is the author of the famous four black stripes logo.

19. Phish

Although conspiracy theorists believe that this is a dog and that if the inscription is turned upside down, it will turn out "ACID", we are sure that this is just a fish that says "PHISH".

18.H.I.M.

Ville Valo himself came up with this "heartgram" and considers it "modern yin-yang."

17. The Beatles

The history of the logo is very simple: it was invented by Ivor Arbiter in 1963, just a man who sold his drums to Ringo.

16. Bauhaus

Half face, half building.

15. The Cramps

The logo was just stolen by the Cramps frontman from dark comics Tales From the Crypt loved by all members of the group.

14. Metallica

James Hetfield came up with both versions of the Metallica logo: the first appeared in the early 80s, and the second in 1996, when everyone cut their hair.

13. ABBA

Since the band's name was an acronym for two couples' names, designer Rune Soderqvist turned each B to face their A.

12. Wu-Tang Clan

The logo was created by DJ Allah Mathematics in graffiti style.

11. Queen

Freddie Mercury made the logo like this: around the letter "Q" - 4 signs of the zodiac of the band members.

10 Van Halen

9. The Misfits

The skull was plagiarized from a poster for The Crimson Ghost, and the spelling of the title was plagiarized from Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine.

8. The Grateful Dead

7 Scissor Sisters

The group became famous for their cover of Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb... and the logo was made under the impression The Wall.

6.AC/DC

5. The Who

In 1964, Brian Pike designed the pop art logo for the band's concert poster at London's Marquee club. The logo never appeared on the band's album covers.

4. Kiss

Guitarist Ace Frehley came up with the logo by successfully turning the last two letters into flashes of lightning.

3. Yes

Artist Roger Dean has made a name for himself with fantasy landscapes. He also painted many of the band's album covers and the logo itself.

2. The Rolling Stones

Although it is said that the logo was designed by Andy Warhol, it is actually the work of artist John Pasche, who came up with the idea of ​​"tongue and lips" in 1970. The prototype was not only the famous mouth of Mick Jagger, but also the image of the Indian goddess Kali.

1.Prince

Group rebranding

Rebranding was successfully done, for example, by Metallica and Green Day.

The Smashing Pumpkins and Sonic Youth change the spelling of the title from album to album, but it still looks recognizable.

Logos of Russian bands

And what logos of domestic groups look like a recognizable brand? My suggestions:

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A logo is a very important part of a musical group. These images are featured on all releases and posters, as well as on the T-shirts worn by fans around the world. And not only on clothes you can see the logo of any group, often images that are associated with your favorite bands become sketches for tattoos. Here is a selection of the best music logos.

Metallica
The Metallica logo was designed by James Hetfield and first appeared on the cover of Kill Em All (1983). With the release of the Load album in 1986, the original design of the logo was changed, but later the classic version of the image reappeared on the cover of the Death Magnetic album.

Misfits
The idea for the Misfits logo came from well-known horror movie brands. So the skull moved from the poster to the movie The Crimson Ghost, and the font of the logo is reminiscent of the font of the movie magazine Famous Monsters of Filmland.

slipknot
The devilish Slipknot logo was created during the band's founding. The logo consists of nine elements and symbolizes the connection between the team members.

Black Flag
This logo was designed by the brother of the band's founder, Raymond Pettibon. He also came up with a name for the group, which symbolizes anarchy, as Raymond said in an interview. At the age of 12, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl got a tattoo on his left forearm in honor of Black Flag, but due to pain, he could only withstand the application of three stripes of the flag.

AC/DC
The famous AC/DC logo was created by Bob Defrin and Gerard Huerta, and the font for this emblem was taken from the Gutenberg Bible.

Aerosmith
Aerosmith's winged logo was designed by guitarist Ray Tabano. And despite the fact that Ray Tabano played in the group for a short time, he created the emblem that the group uses to this day. And for the first time this logo was depicted on the cover of the album "Get Your Wings" (1994).

Queen
The author of the Queen logo is the legendary Freddie Mercury. He created a whole coat of arms called the Queen Crest. On the logo, you can see four signs of the zodiac around the letter Q, which include the band's musicians.

The Who
The Who is an image that can no doubt be classified as pop art. However, the artist Brian Pike made it only for the group's poster, which announced The Who's performance at London's Marquee Club (1964). And over time, the logo turned into an element of the iconographic style of that time.

motorhead
The Motorhead logo can be safely called the most famous logo in heavy rock. The group's leader, Lemmy Kilmister, asked artist Joe Petango to portray "something between a rusty, rotten, falling apart robot and a knight of a mystical kingdom." And based on these wishes, Joe Petango came up with the sinister image of Snaggletooth or War-Pig, which was first depicted on the cover of Motorhead's self-titled album in 1977.

The Ramones
Artist and longtime friend of the Ramones, Arturo Vega, came up with the emblem in the late 1970s while on a trip to Washington. The Ramones logo is a redesigned US coat of arms with the names of the band members around the edge.

There was also a lot of talk about logos. Today for you, another graphic dozen - symbols that reflect the style, ideology or "encrypted" names of groups; the most successful artistic solutions that live not only on, but also in numerous tattoos, stripes and other merchandise. In general ... a laconic stylized drawing (but not a logo), when you look at it, you instantly remember one or another musical team.

Sponges, tongue… unobtrusive and iconic pop art, created by John Pasche in 1971, has evoked a single association for 40 years.

2.HIM
"Heartagram", invented by Ville Valo on the eve of his twentieth birthday, is a grandiose in its simplicity a combination of a pentagram and a heart, tenderness and hatred, as well as a graphic display of the essence of the style known as love metal. A common theme of tattoos and avatars - according to the ironic remark of its creator, has achieved even more popularity than the group itself.

3. BIOHAZARD
They did not compose anything themselves, but successfully copied what was already created. (Screams about this, see.)

4. BAD RELIGION
The band's trademark was coined in 1980 by its main composer, guitarist Brett Gurevich. And settled down. Simple, clear, obvious. And on topic. How many years has it irritated militant Christians...

5. THE OFFSPRING
Not the easiest image to reproduce, but bright and memorable - as, indeed, most of the discography of this hit pop-punk band.

6. THE PRODIGY
The insect that passes as a spider in the group's biographies is actually an ant. Google did not give an answer to the question of what exactly the musicians liked it so much. If anyone knows, please share.

Graphically rethought logo of the group - competently, admittedly, rethought. (In the same paragraph, in general, you can also add the NINE INCH NAILS and DEAD KENNEDYS logos.)

8. THE EXPLOITED
An intricate piece created by the artist Schroeder in 1983 and originally planned as an album cover. But it has moved to a much more advanced level: into the group's logo, into numerous jackets of punk fans ... and, in general, into the list of the main symbols of this style.